Mount for machine guns



Sept. 17, 1935. R. c. COU PLAND MOUNT FOR MACHINE GUNS Filed Oct. 21, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 "hF'" Inventor /2 Richard llflnupland M/WMZ LL y Sept. 17, 1935. R. c. COUPLAND 2,014,376

MOUNT FOR MACHINE GUNS Filed Oct. 21, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Richard BQEEI'LLFlHTiEl Atturney Inventor Patented Sept. 17, n

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE MOUNT FQR MACHHNE GUNS Richard C. Coupland, Norfolk, Va. Application October 21, 1932, Serial No. 638,911 7 Claims (oi. 894il) (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) The invent. on described herein may be manuto hold it in position of angular adjustment about factured and used by or for the Government for the cradle trunnions. governmental purposes, without the payment to The cradle plates Ha are identical and each me of any royalty thereon. includes a forwardly extending arm It the free This invention relates to a mount for machine extremity of which is apertured to receive a 5 guns and is an improvement on the mount shown trunnion pin it (Fig. 5) passing through a crossin my Patent No. 1,883,339 of October 18, 1932. head it. A cylinder it fixed to the cross-head In the patent a gun mounted on a linkage has a sliding fit on a cylinder i"! pivotally mountpivotally secured to a rotatable cradle and a fixed ed on a bracket l8 fixed to the standard 8. A 10 support, automatically elevated to a position for spring 59, introduced into the cylinderthrough 10 anti-aircraft firing when the cradle is unlocked. an aperture in the cross-head and retained The improvements of the present invention are by a screw-plug it, normally tends to move the directed mainly to an arrangement of the autocylinders apart. In the normal low-angle firing matic elevating mechanism whereby it will be position of the cradle, the line of application of neutral when the cradle is in position for low the spring it is close to parallelism with the plane 15 angle or ground firing and whereby it will move containing the cradle trunnions it and the point the cradle into the raised position without shock. of application of the force.

A novel connection is also provided between The trunnion pin M carries on each end an the rear end of the gun and the cradle and is antifriction hearing unit 22 (Fig. 5) on which is arranged to be automatically disconnected as the mounted an angle lever 23. A washer 2i and nut 20 cradle is rotated. 25 threaded on the pin retains the assembly. The With the foregoing and other objects in view, lower extremity of each lever has a ball bearthe invention resides in the novel arrangement ing connection 26 with a link 27 that has a similar and combination of parts and in the details of connection 23 with the bracket it of the stand- 25 construction hereinafter described and claimed, ard.

it being understood that changes in the precise A handle 29 is provided on the system of linkembodiment of the invention herein disclosed age and as shown in Figs. 3 and 7 it is preferably may be made within the scope of what is claimed placed at the connection it where it serves as a without departing from the spirit of the invennut for the axis 30 of the bearing. so tion. An adapter 3i trunnioned in the upper ex- A practical embodiment of the invention is iltremities of the levers 23 receives the gun 32 lustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherewhich is held thereto by a pin 33. in: An elevating mechanism 34 of more or less Fig. l is a view in side elevation, partly in secconventional type is mounted through trunnions 35 tion, of the improved mount, shown in position .5 on the projecting arms 36 of the cradle plates 35 for low angle firing. Ma. The head 3? of the elevating screw carries Fig. 2 is a similar view of the mount in posia pair of oppositely disposed plungers 38 nortion for high angle firing. mally maintained in extruded position by means Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly in section, of the of a single spring 39. The plungers 38 are adapt- 40 mount of Fig. 1. ed to ride in grooves it formed in spaced rails 40 Fig. 4 is a view in front elevation. 44 on a plate 32 fixed to the under side of the Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are sectional views on the regun at its rear end. The rails. are spaced sufiispective lines of Fig. 3. ciently to receive the head 3?. The plungers and Referring to the drawings by characters of grooves are preferably tapered to provide for 45 reference: automatic adjustment when wear occurs. 45

The conventional machine gun mount for low The connection between the head 31 and the angle firing comprises a tripod 5 having a sockplate 42 is effected by pressing in on the plungers eted head 5 for receiving the pintle l of a standwith the fingers of one hand and then lowering ard 8. In the present instance the upper porthe rear end of the gun with the other hand tion of the standard is a yoke formed of arcuate until the head is received between the rails and 59 arms 9 whose upper extremities are arranged the plungers enter their respective grooves. The for the reception of trunions is? mounting a craplate is formed with beveled edges 43 at the lower dle H consisting of spaced plates i la. A clampsides of the grooves in order to facilitate the ing device !2 of conventional type is carried by entry of the plungers and enable a camming the standard and arranged to engage the cradle action to be exerted. 55

In any position of adjustment of the cradle the gun is attached to the adapter 3| by the pin 33. If the gun is to be employed against ground targets the elevating mechanism 34 is secured to the plate 42 by the plungers 38. Minor adjustments in elevation are obtained by the mechanism while major adjustments are made by moving the cradle to an inclined position. During such adjustment by the cradle the spring I!) will exert only a slight pressure tending to raise the cradle because of its position close to parallelism with the plane containing the cradle trunnion and the point of application of the turning force.

When it is desired to change the character of the mount to facilitate high angle firing at aerial targets the clamping device I2 is released and pressure is exerted manually by depressing the rear end of the gun or pulling on the handle 25. The spring I9 soon comes into action to carry the load and gently moves the cradle to the elevated position shown in Fig. 2. Movement of the cradle is limited by the lever and link which cooperate to establish a truss afiording a rigid support for the cradle.

During the elevation of the cradle and the gun the distance between the front gun-attaching pin 33 and the plungers 38 of the rear gun connection is increased with the result that the plate 52 containing the grooves 40 is displaced forwardly and finally moves out of engagement with the plungers.

In restoring the cradle to the lowered position sufi'icient pressure must be manually applied to overcome the action of the spring H3. The operation of inserting the plungers 38 into their grooves has been previously explained.

I claim:

1. A gun mount embodying a support, a cradle trunnioned on the support and having forwardly extending arms, means for locking the cradle to the support, a pin mounted in the extremities of the arms, a lever mounted on each end of the pin, gun-attaching means on the upper ends of the levers, a link connecting the lower end of each lever to the support, a crosshead on the pin, a cylinder fixed to the crosshead, a cylinder carried by the support and having a sliding fit relative to the crosshead cylinder, a spring within the cylinders, and plug in the crosshead confining the spring.

2. A gun mount embodying a support, a cradle trunnioned on the support and having forwardly extending arms, means for locking the cradle to the support, a crosshead trunnioned in the extremities of the arms, a cylinder fixed to the crosshead, a cylinder carried by the support and having sliding fit relative to the crosshead cylinder, a spring within the cylinders and a plug in the crosshead confining the spring.

3. A gun mount embodying a support, a cradle 10 trunnioned on the support and having forwardly extending arms, means for locking the cradle to the support, a pair of interfitting cylinders be tween the arms, one cylinder attached to the extremities of the arms and the other to the support, and a spring confined by the cylinders.

4. In combination with a gun, a cradle, a front gun-supporting member carried by the cradle and having its relation thereto changed on rotation of the cradle, and a connection between the rear of the gun and cradle automatically separable when the front gun supporting member is moved towards a vertical position.

5. In combination with a gun and a support, a separable connection between said members comprising spaced rails on one of said members having opposed, open-ended grooves on their inner sides and cam surfaces on their inner sides leading to the grooves, a casing on the other member receivable between therails, opposed plungers carried by the casing and receivable, in the grooves, a spring between the plungers and means for limiting extrusion of the plungers.

6. In combination with a gun, a cradle, a front gun supporting member carried by the cradle, an attachment between the gun and said member, and an attachment between the rear of the gun and cradle automatically detached by movement of the cradle to high elevation.

'7. In a combination with a gun, a cradle, an attachment between the front of the cradle and. the gun adapted to move the gun longitudinally of the cradle as the same is elevated, and an attachment between the rear of the cradle and the gun detached upon high elevation of the cradle, 5 by the aforesaid movement of the gun with respect to the cradle.

RICHARD C. COUPLAND. 

